March Challenge

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

My dear friend Penny has been working hard to produce more memory boxes for the local hospitals and wanted a new design to work with. Well... once the mojo started flowing there was no holding back the tide!

Although these pictures were designed as painting patterns, there's absolutely no reason they can't be printed and used on your cards or scrapbooking layouts. I do have plans to print and colour each design to use on a card, so stay tuned... just don't hold your breath while you're waiting!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

There's a wonderful blog called "Mojo Monday" that has a new card sketch posted each week... on a Monday funnily enough. Anyway, I thought I'd prop up my own flagging mojo and give this week's sketch a whirl. As you can see I've dragged out my shapeabilities, again, as well as my cuttlebug and alcohol inks.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Trifold cards look their best when standing open for display. They can be made in a variety of different sizes with slight variations to the measurements of each tier to give different looks. The one shown here has equal proportions to make construction a little easier, but once you have figured out the basics you can fiddle with the measurements depending on what embellishments you wish to use.

1. Start with a horizontal piece of cardstock measuring 6" x 12".

2. Refer to the diagram below to mark light pencil lines on the back of your piece of cardstock. There are lines drawn horizonally across the cardstock at 2" and 4" and lines drawn verticallydown the cardstock at 2", 4", 8" and 10".

3. Follow the red cut lines indicated in the diagram below. Cut horizontally across the page starting 2" from the top and 2" from the left hand side and stopping 2" from the right hand side of the page.

4. The blue lines in the diagram below indicate "mountain" folds. Use your stylus or bone folder to score along the blue lines indicated in the diagram below. Fold these locations so that they bend upward toward you (mountain fold).

5. The green lines in the diagram below indicate "valley" folds. Use your stylus or bone folder to score along the green lines indicated in the diagram below. Fold these locations so that they bend downward away from you (valley fold).

6. Press the creases firmly to make them nice and crisp. Your cardstock should now look like the picture below:

7. Rub out the pencil lines and turn your cardstock over. Cut out three pieces of co-ordinating cardstock or patterned paper measuring 33/4" x 13/4" and twelve pieces measuring 13/4" x 13/4". Adhere these to each of the areas on the card as indicated in the picture below. Although these are not strictly necessary, they do provide extra strength and support to your card and help it to stand up easily.

8. Now it's a simple matter of embellishing each of the little frames. Note that the second frame at the top and bottom do not appear on the "front cover" when the card is closed, so you might want to fold up your card when planning the layout of your embellishments. Remember to leave one or two blank areas for personal greetings and messages.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Sunday, March 14, 2010

It was with some degree of surprise that I realised Easter is only a few weeks away. As always, it snuck up in my after Christmas recuperation period to find me no where near prepared. For our family, Easter falls amongst nine birthdays, and this year we are also throwing in a much anticipated birth! Needless to say, the organisational skills required at this time of year are almost beyond belief. Thank goodness there's chocolate on the horizon!

Yesterday some of my lovely, creative friends came over to play... and we ate quite a bit too... and laughed as Penny struggled to mitre a corner at Deirdre's prompting! But I digress.

We decided to get some inspiration from a newly purchased book called "Vintage Cards". It's full of wonderful ideas, instructions and full colour pictures on creating beautiful shabby chic and old world cards. You could probably apply the designs and principles to off the page items too. Here's what we came up with in just eight short hours... I did mention that we spent quite a lot of time eating and laughing didn't I?

Thursday, March 11, 2010

As some of you may know, I am a fairly recent user, and a big fan, of Spellbinder dies. Today I sat down to have a play with one of the latest additions to my collection called Shapeabilities Pendants. I made this pure white wedding card by layering two of the cutouts and then adding a big satin bow and some rhinestones.

Here is another card using the same wishing well image - just larger. I have to say, it was so much easier to colour the picture when it was bigger. There are some places in this design that are pretty hard to get into with a paint brush!

It all began with a set of ATC's I was making for the stamping club I attend. I was so taken with the design that I decided to sit down with a pencil and paper to create this pretty wishing well draped with spring wisteria. It's been a lovely, creative morning that transported me to a lovely meadow full of wildflowers and gentle spring breezes... ahhhhhhh.

Anyway, I'm back now but while I was away someone left a big pile of dirty clothes in the laundry, a sink full of dishes and a less than clean floor in my house! I don't know what happened but I suppose you can guess what I'll be doing for the rest of the day. That's right... making more cards!!!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Tomorrow is the day of the big baby shower for my sister-in-law! I have wrapped the keepsake box and matching card I shared in an earlier post, along with some baby clothes and a scrapbook album that I made for the baby. But I felt I needed something pretty to decorate the gift table with...

The "cake" is actually made from rolled up disposable nappies that are arranged to look like a three tier cake. It was so much fun to do and really quite easy once I worked out that I needed elastic bands to keep each nappy rolled until the ribbon was tied in place. Now I'm thinking about all the other "cakes" I can make... maybe tea towels for a house warming, or face washers, towels, or even t-shirts!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

I haven't done any embroidery for quite some time as I've been consumed with card-making and scrapbooking! I know a lot of you can relate. Anyway, I had to give a mini-class to a group of friends who wanted to learn ribbon embroidery and this is what I came up with.

I really enjoyed making something different for a change and thought I might try it again. This time I might give housekeeping a go... or maybe not!

About Me

I love spending time in my craft room designing and creating with paper, fabric, flowers, ribbons, paint... anything I can get my hands on really. I have tried many different arts and crafts and have a particular passion for papercrafts, decorative painting and ribbon embroidery. I love to share ideas and "how to's" with other keen crafters, which is the purpose of this blog. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.

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Beccy’s Place images are protected by copyright and remain the sole property of Beccy Muir, all rights reserved.

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